


Rekindle

by butchtemari



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 15:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butchtemari/pseuds/butchtemari
Summary: Their kunai clash together. They hold the position, break apart. Punch left, right, roundhouse kick up. Block. Put some distance between yourself, note her opening on her left, the way her blond hair curls just so gently behind her ears, the gleam of her earrings catching the sunlight, the green shines all the brighter in her eyes for it, the--





	Rekindle

**Author's Note:**

> i originally posted this to tumblr, so mostly just moving it over here for the sake of consolidating my """longer stuff""" together

“Sakura… Sakura, hey. Sakura. Fivehead, wake up.”

It takes a moment for Sakura to register just who the voice is coming from, and even longer still to realize that she’s been sleeping for who knows how long. Ino stands over her, perfectly manicured hand resting on her shoulder, so gentle, the only part of her that betrays a vulnerability, a softness in her composure. The rest of her is all angles, though nothing quite so sharp as the words that come out of her mouth.

“What?” she snaps blearily, and sits up. The last thing she remembers is desperately trying to circumvent a particularly nasty problem with chakra fusing the Zetsu flesh to living tissue. It hadn’t been a that big of an issue when she’d attached an arm to Naruto, but like everything he did, he’d slammed his head, or rather his obnoxiously large mass of chakra, against it until it had worked. This meant, sadly, that if she ever wanted to do this for anyone else, it meant a lot more research and a lot more experimenting.

And now with both Naruto and Sasuke gone... a lot more getting caught in the library with a face full of papers and drool.

Ino only gives her a look, one that says a thousand words in the simplest upward tilt of the finest brow. “Isn’t this like the fifth time this has happened?” it says. “Shouldn’t you be taking better care of yourself?” it scolds. “Why haven’t I seen you?” it whispers. 

She sniffs, nose now stuffy with the dust of the library. “I’m working,” she says, by way of explanation.

“Well, you suck at it,” Ino snorts. It earns her another glare, but she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she flicks Sakura’s forehead, and with a tender smile, says, “I thought you could use a break. A breath of fresh air maybe.”

Sakura sniffs again, rubbing at her forehead, and then looks back down at her work. “I shouldn’t,” she says hesitantly. “I was in the middle of something and…” She trails off, rolling her wrist around, searching for some half-assed excuse and not really sure where she’s going with that. She’s not even sure what part of the equation she was working on. Her mind feels fuzzy from accumulated dust and sleep. Ugh.

“In the middle of what? Soaking your papers with your nasty drool?” Ino rolls her eyes, and grabs at Sakura’s hand, giving her a sharp tug to her feet. “C’mon, get your gear on and let’s spar for a bit. You could use a stretch, and I owe you a _smackdown._ ”

Outside, the day is bright and warm, sun now just a little past the center of the sky. With a tinge of regret, she realizes she’d been in there far longer than she’d ever intended, and had still barely gotten a thing done. It’s hard, Sakura thinks, to get anything done at all when your best friend has gone away for what might be forever. 

They spar under the watchful gaze of the sun, metal clanging against each other and debris flying this way and that. They keep it simple, nothing too big. All taijutsu and nothing special, but just enough that Sakura starts to feel warmth spread through her muscles again and sweat begin to bead at her brow. When was the last time she’d gotten out of that stuffy library? Spent time with someone like this? She can’t remember.

Their kunai clash together. They hold the position, break apart. Punch left, right, roundhouse kick up. Block. Put some distance between yourself, note her opening on her left, the way her blond hair curls just so gently behind her ears, the gleam of her earrings catching the sunlight, the green shines all the brighter in her eyes for it, the--

Ino sweeps a leg under her, catching her off guard, and she tumbles, far more clumsily than the pride of a prodigy of the Fifth Hokage could ever admit. Before she can get back up, she’s being held to the ground, kunai at her throat, wrist held down in the other hand. It’s a loss. A total and completely undeniable loss.

“That,” Ino says, breathing heavy, “was more than a little pathetic, Sakura.”

“Oh, can it,” Sakura snaps, breath coming just as short. Ino is insufferably close. She can smell the floral perfume she’d put on earlier. “I’m just rusty from all the research I’ve been doing. Now will you get off?”

Ino rolls off of her, settling down beside her in the the grass, kunai dropped to the side, forgotten. They lie there in silence, absolutely still except for the rise and fall of their chests, desperately trying to catch the breath they’d lost. Minutes pass like hours, the only indication that anything has changed at all the clouds above. The silence stretches and stretches, outward until it’s enveloped the entire clearing. It’s not a bad silence, not an awkward one, but one that Sakura misses desperately: the silence that can only come from years of camaraderie, of friendship. Intimate.

“You know,” Ino says, eyes still skyward, “I used to think Shikamaru and Choji were stupid, just lazing around and watching the clouds for hooours at a time. Like, what could be more boring than that, just watching a bunch of meaningless puffballs pass across the skyline, right?”

“Sure.” Sakura shrugs, turning in the grass to watch as she speaks. 

“Well, maybe he had a point after all. Doing that every day with Choji.” Her gaze is thoughtful, attention so totally focused on the clouds above, Sakura’s not even sure she’s there at all.

“And how’s that?”

“It’s nice sometimes,” she continues, “Like, just to be close to the ones you love, and think about nothing at all except that. Just that... you’re close again.”

There’s another beat of silence. Sakura feels her pulse surge.

“I love you, Sakura.”

Fingers snake to intertwine with hers, warm and a little clammy with sweat. She lets it happen, and squeezes tightly, holding them close to her chest. It feels like the old days, back when they were in the academy. There’s more between them now, more regrets, more hurt, more history too silly to be retold, but more than ever, an understanding and a tenderness that pierces right into the very shape of her chakra.

Sakura’s heart tightens in her chest, and she lets the words finally slip out of her mouth. “I love you, too, Ino.”


End file.
